Saturday, 10 July 2010

Continuing from yesterday's post on Anna Leader here is a follow up entry about her time sharing a studio with Amy Gwatkin. Over the couple of years that they were shooting in the space they turned the camera on each other for tests and just for laughs (see the girls "sexualising" a stuffed manatee for example)! There is a great back catalogue of these portraits between two friends and collaborators of which I have selected a few of my favourites. It is a little end of an era as Anna is taking maternity leave for the summer so this is a nice retrospective of times past and their prolific self portraits.

Friday, 9 July 2010

Ive just realised that I managed to miss the Fashion and Textiles show at the RCA ............. I took this snap as I was dashing past at the weekend............. but the Fine Art installment opens tomorrow till the 18th so there is still time to see some of the graduates work if you're into painting, printing, photography & sculpture...........

You may remember this image by Anna Leader from my coverage of the group show "You, Me & Everybody else" in May. Her collection "The Making of a Warrior" has been taken down in London and flown to Berlin to be shown at Galerie Campagne Première alongside Victor Burgin, Ryan Gander, Friederike Hamann and Uriel Orlow. "HORS D'OEUVRE " opens this evening which is a serendipitous date for Anna as the project was an investigation into her identity being pregnant for the first time and tomorrow is her due date! Anna has sent me some test shots from when she was working on the order of the images - taking a self portrait each week of her pregnancy. You can see her initial vegetable warrior mask which was later replaced but a FBstyle pimped up version (as seen in the final top image and on Anna's desk). We both agreed that although her asparagus nose was somewhat becoming, I may be able to conjure up something more "couture". Thanks to Amy Gwatkin for sending a portrait of Anna sitting at her desk..............you know I love a good snoop round a studio..........of which more to follow..........

If you are in Berlin (whilst Anna is giving birth in London!), here are the deats:

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Here is Renata Abbade who is one of life's great joys and never fails to put a smile on my face and make me literally LOL. Ive had so much fun going through her video archive just now, watching her brilliant video clips to research for this.........which I highly recommend you do yourself........so I have posted one of my favourites here. Renata is a Brazillian beauty in New York making the city scape a more colourful place with her outfits, dancing, styling and accessories line "Re-Accessories". For the last couple of days she has been in threeASFOUR's China Town silver studio taking part in their summer sale. If you are in NYC and braving the heat, nip down to the LES to check out the exquisite mix of threeASFOUR's genius designs for a reduced price and Renata's necklaces which you can see layed out on the silver table. I wish I was under a canopy of close NYC warmth and privee to the pitter patter of Forsyth Street's ping pong park noise. Unfortunately I'm not, so I urge any New Yorker natives to take up the opportunity to visit the heavenly silver loft and invest in some prize pieces that will make you feel incredible each time you wear them.........I can vouch for this!

In the lead up to LOVEBOX music festival I am going to be asking a few of the acts to send over their favourite thing of the summer. To start us off, here is WorkIt who have hooked up Westwood to headline their set next weekend...............! If you can't wait that long there is the regular night this weekend at Visions.

Q: What is WorkIt's essential summer anthem for 2010?

"That's the Way Love Goes" Janet JacksonIts the perfect daytime party track...I like to call it Jeep music.

Picture: Of something that is making you smile this summer............

All over camel look. Camel cashere top with camel leather jacket and camel suede skirt...strong!OrThe look of the summer...customized hi vis vest!

Now I am located in Dalston with Craig, I don't get a daily dose of witnessing my old studio mate Andy Macgregor deftly and delicately creating paper wizardry. But Im not missing out entirely as I can still keep up with the results and you can too if visit Selfridges at the moment. Andy has made a paper menagerie of animals for the Chopard, 150th Anniversary Animal Watch collection. I love the little turtle, CUTE!In the last week Ive been able to give you the run down on Kyle Bean's Wonder Room windows and And Macgregor's Wonder Room in-store display. Now you know.............go West!

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

You may remember a lovely photo of Paloma Faith from my Glastonbury coverage when she came to NYC Downlow to play a little acoustic cabaret set at Lyall Hakaraia's bar. Previously that day she had played on the Pyramid stage in an outfit with shoulder pads that top trump any other pop princess's look prior to this performance! Lyall designed and crafted a Swarovski encrusted couture catsuit, scull cap and harness to sparkle and shimmer below the extreme accessory of weather balloons! I got in touch with Lyall to see if I could get a closer look at the costume for the blog and luckily he still had it at his studio. Here is the piece-de-resistance getting a little touch up and some atmospheric shots of his work space. I love visiting different artist's creative habitats and Lyall's was a real treat with different archive pieces dotted around on display along with his umbrella collection! Here is a multi layered ruffle extravaganza from the "House of Organza" project which he curated at his venue Vogue Fabrics. Lyall's piece was used in a Tim Walker / Kate Phelan shoot in Vogue magazine which is a brilliant twist of puns - from one Vogue to another - full circle! Lets wait and see if there will be a return to the H.O.O for a 2nd installment ..................but for now, keep your eyes peeled for another Faith & Hakaraia couture collaboration.

**** I have stolen this photo of Paloma on stage from the ether of the internet, so please let me know who to credit if you recognise it!

In the coming months I will be snooping around these studios like Lloyd Grosman asking "Who could possibly live in a house like this?". Gemma Slack and Hermione De Paula share a lovely space in the lofty heights of one corner which I visited the other day. Here is Edward the studio's four legged friend, chilling out on some block paper whilst the girls are busy pattern cutting. Infact they are so busy, they asked me to come back another day when the place is a bit tidier! So for now, here we have a sneaky peak with their pooch who is no novice infront of the camera being the current model for this Diesel campaign shot by Kristin Vicari.

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Set Design duo Jiggery Pokery have joined forces with artist Jamie Brown to whip up a physcadelic patterned revolving platform for the new Man Like Me video. "Lovestruck" inspired them to base the art direction for the video around a kitsch pop-up Valentine card the girls found in India and reproduce it in large scale. The acurate sections were mathematically worked out with cuts and folds in the massive cardboard walls. The details were then painted on freehand with use of the odd stencil along with some printed collage.There are four scenes in total, all backing onto one another to make the pop-up card structure that the band could walk around with holes to appear through. Along with the main chorus card is a second totally tropical Miami sunset card. Here is Jessie Ware wearing the Carmen Miranda style headdress which I made for the production to add a bit of a sunny funny Um Bongo fruityness as the cherry on the top. The third act is an abstract London Underground tube train scene made from panels of different clashing tube fabric patterns and last but not least, the fourth is a lonely-hearts card, based on the 'Lovestruck' section of the London Lite, full of red hearts, lipstick marks, flowers etc.

Thanks to Jamie for these work-in-progress shots which are a great documentation of thier painstaking process of precision planning. Having made a few sets from double-wall card in my time and knowing just how bloody tricky it is, I throw my hands up in awe at this video! Full credit to the whole team for making this detailed devise!

Monday, 5 July 2010

When I contacted Nina Ribena about getting a onsie for Glastonbury she sent me photos of her African print pantsuits which now crop up in the new video for Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs "Garden" which she styled. You might also be able to spot one of my Heliocentric Electric hairpieces there too, whilst the metal cage ornamental accessory on Orlando is by Yunus & Eliza! For this track the guest female vocalist is Luisa from Lulu and the Lampshades............. so between these two bands, they've got quite a long name situation going on if they join forces! Check out both of their myspace pages to see which festivals they are playing to catch them this summer.......and just for now, click play and mellow out to this cute tune!

Running Rainbow

Todd Hart Mix

PrintClub Screen print / collage for sale

Swatch

SWATCH DODECAHEDRON COLLISION

Red Bull Catwalk Studio

'Multi-talented Fred Butler is quite the east London renaissance girl, with fingers in so many creative pies that they're difficult to tick off.

Of course, there are the splendidly exuberant accessories, wearable sculptures whose sparkle has attracted fashion magpies such as Gaga, Bjork and Nicki Minaj. But there is also custom made prop styling, art directing and film making.